If one were to come up with one word to describe last week, I would say—-Anxious. There were so many things big enough, understood or misunderstood enough or even fearful enough for anyone reading the unfolding events to have palpitations. Bibi, the ultimate irredentist hawk had been holding meetings about how to respond to the Iranian attack of October Ist. Yahya Sinwar had been neutralized. Lebanon is looking more and more like Gaza by the day, and there appears not to be a glimmer of hope that Hamas would wave the White flag. That is what normal people do in normal climes. The Middle East is not normal. Bibi is as close to normal as Hamas is. Call the Middle East the perfect storm, and you would not be wrong, but you may need to add: the perfect storm in a glass bottle. In other words, the question is not whether it will shatter or not, but when.
Only recently, the US sent its most sophisticated air defense system with a 100-man crew to operate it to Israel. All this happened just in case after Israel pays Iran a visit, Iran decides again to launch fresh missiles into Israel. Now, this is how Google describes the THAAD.
“Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy short, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase (descent or reentry).[3][4] The THAAD interceptor carries no warhead, instead relying on its kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. THAAD was developed after the experience of Iraq’s Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War in 1991.[5]”
Overnight, Saturday night, the skies over Tehran were illuminated by over 100 F35 American made/Israeli modified jets. They flew 2,000 miles, refueled mid-air, entered the Tehran airspace and delivered devastating blows to the Iranian-Russian supplied air defense systems, batteries and radars in a way that leaves the entire Iranian country helpless in the event of an outright war. Lesson: “If you mess with us again by firing missiles into our country, not only will we be waiting for you with American made, and American operated THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) systems, your entire country’s airspace will be our playground. Iran will be transformed into a mass of twisted, and mangled metal with smoke billowing across a vast portion of the country as buildings crumble to the ground one after the other, block by block. Be warned. Not only are we strong, we have a friend in the United States of America.”
I just made this last part up, but trust me, Israel is not a country to be toyed with. That tiny country has produced 13 Nobel prize winners. FYI—A Jewish man once told me that every Jewish family has an Education foundation. Everyone must go to school to the highest level possible.
We await the Iranian response to the Israeli proposal at the UN for them to partner to build a Beltway highway of prosperity spanning Israel, through several Arab nations to foster trade, and stop all the warring. That kind of wish may be far-fetched in that region of madness where commonsense is usually a scarce resource.
Elon Musk’s Anti immigrant rant.
Just because he’s white, Elon Musk feels a sense of entitlement to poo-poo Biden and Harris and speak of immigration as an apocalyptic experience for America. Now, Chinua Achebe, in “Things Fall Apart” put it this way: “Those whose palm kernels have been cracked by benevolent spirits should not forget to be humble.”
Elon Musk was born in apartheid South Africa. His parents emigrated to Canada from where he obtained a student VISA to enter America for school only. He registered for classes at Stanford but never attended college. He was not only illegal for up to 10 years at some point, he committed a crime by working.
The British put it this way: “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” His venture into the political space will cost him, even if Trump wins. People like Musk do not understand that people like Trump do not like immigrants of any hue. Whenever it becomes convenient, he will be reminded that he is African. History should by now have informed minions like him that working for Trump is akin to riding the Tiger. You will end up in its belly.
Washington Post retreats into Cowardice.
One thing that cannot be denied is the Trump effect that will define America for a long time to come. His entrance into American politics has been nothing like anything or anyone before him. He brought with him some measure of Star power and the macho-man can do spirit, the kind American folklore is enamored of—Horatio Alger—Rags to riches, the building of American railways from coast to coast over 3,000 miles of rivers, valleys and mountains, the landing on the moon, and conquest of Mount Everest. Braggadocio met with reality during his four years in office. He was confronted with many tests of leadership in times of crisis. He failed in the matter of Black Lives Matter. He failed in the matter of COVID. These failures mirrored his many failures in business, having filed for bankruptcy 7 times.
Trump has made clear that he will manufacture “enemies from within” and punish them to the utmost. People are taking him seriously. The Washington Post is certainly taking him so seriously that they are too scared to render an endorsement. They are taking a rain check on that this election cycle. Welcome to Erdogan-Putin-Xi-country. Bye bye to Press freedom if Trump wins. Even if he loses, now that he has normalized threats in American politics, people like J.D Vance, Ted Cruz, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are likely to continue in his image.
With all this baggage in his corner, the question therefore arises: Why is the election close at all? Why has Kamala not left him in the dust?
Would it be safe to say much of America is like Trump, or is this a temporary outlier in social studies?
The Big Bad BRICS!
Last week, Russia’s Putin hosted people that looked like him for the most part—fellow dictators, to a meeting which instead of focusing on economic matters, appears to be a group of disgruntled leaders who do not like being called out for bad behavior. The only country with real power in that group is China, but what the others seem to ignore is that China is great only because the American market is their playground. It will be interesting to watch how they plan to carry out their threats versus a possible retribution from an America which decides to close its doors to Chinese goods. It is my guess that China is just playing along with Putin to make him feel good as Xi well knows that “what is good for America is good for China.” It will be foolish for them to jeopardize what they have now for the sake of their new friends.
Reverse Musical Chairs.
In my beloved country, last week, our dear President carried out a game of musical chairs in reverse. In the one that we know, the chairs reduce as the tempo of the dance deepens. In the Tinubu version, he took out 5 chairs and replaced them with 7 new ones. Abracadabra!!!! Nigeria, we hail thee.
Petrol to Gas for Savings.
The economic squeeze in Nigeria has hit me. My life is supposed to be a very good one, but with Tinubunomics, no one is spared the scourge of hyperinflation that’s ravaging the country. A senior friend of mine described it like this: “I am now afraid to turn on the generator when there’s no electricity, and just as afraid to turn on the lights when there’s electricity because of Band A.”
Another one, a younger cousin says he only uses air conditioners in his house on weekends. This is what I have done. I’ve converted my generator from petrol to LPG home cooking gas over the weekend. After two weeks of experimenting, I will let you all know what, if any savings I am making. Until next week Monday, I wish all you beautiful people a fabulous week ahead.
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Michael Ovienmhada.
This weekly roundup is a must read. I will share it.
Everyone that has a taste for robust content should read this.
I will most definitely pass this on.
Brilliant and thought provoking read i must say.
Brilliant the Isrealis are but they don’t have the cash to fund All the stuff, missiles- defensive & offensive, they are throwing around. They owe American tax payers plenty for their generosity!
I have said before that I don’t trust the Americans not to be affected by Kamalla’s gender! She is not MALE! This fact has made this contest unnecessarily complicated. A Male Democrat would not have had this difficulty not in a period of normality in tbe US Economy! I do hope I am wrong that America still not ready for a Female in the White House!!